For somebody at the beginning of something — still at school, newly qualified, or one week into work they do not yet understand. Mostly people looking back at who they were, which is the only vantage from which this advice is any good.
23 people · 326 answers
United States international footballer, 2006–2023
Recorded · The Players' Tribune · 2016
Even more simply, you can ask yourself this question: "Do I truly care about equality for all people in this country?" If the answer is yes, then demand to be a better, more educated, more…
Musician, poet and photographer
Recorded · Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art · 2012
Build a good name. Keep your name clean. Don’t make compromises. Don’t worry about making a bunch of money or being successful. Be concerned about doing good work and protect your work.
Physician and inventor; builder of the first practical artificial kidney
Recorded · American Academy of Achievement
By the way, the guys with very high grades are not necessarily the people that are the most successful in later life.
Chief executive of Apple
Recorded · Duke Today · 2018
Fearlessness means taking the first step, even if you don't know where it will take you. It means being driven by a higher purpose rather than by applause.”
Professor of computer science at Stanford University; creator of ImageNet
Recorded · Yahoo Tech
Scientists are people who are curious and want to pursue knowledge and pursue truth, and this still remains the most timeless and priceless value of a scientific career.
German football manager; Liverpool 2015–2024
Recorded · Sky Sports · 2024
You have to change from doubter to believer.
Co-founder and chief executive of Nubank
Recorded · Goldman Sachs (official event transcript)
The second thing there was another thing I learned at Sequoia is that the culture of a business is built in the first six months by the first ten to 15 employees.
Theoretical physicist; Nobel laureate in Physics, 1965
Recorded · Caltech Engineering and Science (Caltech Library archive) · 1974
For example, I was a little surprised when I was talking to a friend who was going to go on the radio.
Co-founder and co-chairman of Oaktree Capital Management
Recorded · Oaktree Capital Management (client memo) · 2001
There are a few things I dismiss and a few I believe in thoroughly.
Novelist
Recorded · The Guardian · 2010
Writing fiction is not “self-expression” or “therapy”. Novels are for readers, and writing them means the crafty, patient, selfless construction of effects.
Chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, 1970–2025
Recorded · Berkshire Hathaway Inc. · 2014
Most investors, of course, have not made the study of business prospects a priority in their lives.
Biomedical engineer; Institute Professor at MIT
Recorded · Academy of Achievement · 2012
I didn’t realize that scientists were like that, and that people were like that. I would have thought — and I like to hope — that I encourage people rather than discourage people.
Co-founder and chief executive of Canva
Recorded · Irish Tech News
To launch Canva, we needed investment and a tech team. Finding the right people for both took two years but there is always a lot of rejection for entrepreneurs in their early days.
Founder and chief executive of Bumble
Recorded · CNBC Make It · 2021
Don't be scared of the ‘what ifs,’ because the truth is, the only failure is not trying. That's the only way you can fail. Trying and having it not work out isn't failure.
Co-founder, president and chief executive of NVIDIA
Recorded · NVIDIA Blog · 2024
One setback after another, we shook it off and skated to the next opportunity. Each time, we gain skills and strengthen our character.
Co-founder of Andela and of Flutterwave; founding partner of Future Africa
Recorded · Iyinoluwa Aboyeji on LinkedIn · 2024
Failure is the most likely outcome of entrepreneurship. Hence there is absolutely nothing wrong with failure. It is the default outcome. Success on the other hand is rare and unpredictable.
Middle-distance runner and neurologist; first man to run a mile in under four minutes
Recorded · Academy of Achievement · 2002
I had set my mind on winning the 1500-meter gold medal in Helsinki in 1952. ... And, it all came disastrously wrong when I came fourth instead of winning. ...
Co-founder and former chairman of Infosys
Recorded · Rediff · 2007
I will begin with the importance of learning from experience. It is less important, I believe, where you start. It is more important how and what you learn.
Co-founder and chief executive of Airbnb
Recorded · Fortune · 2017
We need to have mentors. I think I've always been pretty shameless about seeking out people much smarter and much more experienced than me from the very beginning.
Founder of the Green Belt Movement; Member of Parliament for Tetu, Kenya, 2002–2007; Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources 2003–2005
Recorded · The Nobel Foundation · 2004
Tree planting became a natural choice to address some of the initial basic needs identified by women.
Novelist
Recorded · The Guardian · 2017
The desk helps, now that I have it. I’ve stacked piles of books that I love on it to act as talismans. They help, too.
Chef and restaurateur
Recorded · The Observer / The Guardian · 2025
My training took seven years. I didn’t learn how to make sushi for the first three years. I only got two days off a month, and slept on the restaurant floor. But I loved the job.
Co-chief executive and president of Ariel Investments
Recorded · NPR · 2007
Our business everyday is to make money for people.
Vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, 1978–2023
Recorded · Speakola · 2007
They win the respect, the deserved trust, of the people they deal with, and there is huge pleasure in life to be obtained from getting deserved trust.
American film producer
Recorded · The Tim Ferriss Show · 2023
The book I recommend to people the most is Stranger In A Strange Land by Robert Heinlein. But I’m not sure that’s —
NASA astronaut; commander of the International Space Station
Recorded · The Tim Ferriss Show · 2020
I'm looking at my bookshelf in my office here, certainly The Right Stuff. I've given that to people.
American talent manager and film producer
Recorded · The Tim Ferriss Show · 2018
Joseph Campbell many years ago. A couple of the Dalai Lama books. Most recently, Norman Lear’s book.
American computer scientist and businessman
Recorded · The Tim Ferriss Show · 2019
It’s a great question. Neil Postman in general is a media thinker about some of the topics we’ve discussed today is just excellent.
Physician; founder of the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona
Recorded · The Tim Ferriss Show · 2018
Yes. One is a translation of Lao Tzu by a man named Witter Bynner. It’s called The Way of Life According to Lao Tzu . It’s beautiful translations.
American Crossfit athlete
Recorded · The Tim Ferriss Show · 2018
I read a lot. I think there are some really poor books at the airport, I really do. For me, I like more of a practical application book. I like a book like Mark Cuban’s Sport of Business.
Playwright; two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama
Recorded · The Paris Review, Issue 153, Winter 1999 · 1999
I think he was expecting someone with a more strident tone and antagonistic demeanor.
President of Liberia, 2006–2018
Recorded · The Nobel Foundation · 2011
Mine has been a long journey, a lifetime journey to Oslo.
Baseball centre fielder; twice National League Most Valuable Player
Recorded · Academy of Achievement · 1996
My father said to me, “You need a piece of paper to go into a door sometimes.” I didn’t understand about résumés, but when you write a résumé you have to put down things that people want to…
India Test and one-day international cricketer, 1989–2013
Recorded · The Hindu · 2013
He gave me freedom at the age of 11, and told me that [I should] chase my dreams, but make sure you do not find short cuts.
Dog musher; four-time winner of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race
Recorded · Academy of Achievement · 1991
One of my favorite lessons is best summed up in the words of an old Athabascan Indian who told me, “There are many hard things in life, but there is only one sad thing, and that is giving…
War correspondent and author; Pulitzer Prize winner, 1989
Recorded · American Academy of Achievement · 2007
One of my editors once said to me, “If you get invited to the White House, take your notebook with you,” and he meant it.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Aung San Suu Kyi, Bill Clinton, Charlie Munger, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, David Vélez, Derek Sivers, Desmond Tutu, Edmund Hillary, Jimmy Carter, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, John Lewis, Malala Yousafzai, Marina Abramović, Mario Molina, Mellody Hobson, Mohamed ElBaradei, Richard Feynman, Shinya Yamanaka, Simone Biles, Steve Jobs, Warren Buffett, Winston Churchill